title: Distinct cerebrospinal fluid proteomes differentiate post-treatment lyme disease from chronic fatigue syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neurologic Post Treatment Lyme disease (nPTLS) and Chronic Fatigue (CFS) are syndromes of unknown etiology. They share features of fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, making it difficult to differentiate them. Unresolved is whether nPTLS is a subset of CFS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pooled cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from nPTLS patients, CFS patients, and healthy volunteers were comprehensively analyzed using high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS), coupled with immunoaffinity depletion methods to reduce protein-masking by abundant proteins. Individual patient and healthy control CSF samples were analyzed directly employing a MS-based label-free quantitative proteomics approach. We found that both groups, and individuals within the groups, could be distinguished from each other and normals based on their specific CSF proteins (p<0.01). CFS (n = 43) had 2,783 non-redundant proteins, nPTLS (n = 25) contained 2,768 proteins, and healthy normals had 2,630 proteins. Preliminary pathway analysis demonstrated that the data could be useful for hypothesis generation on the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying these two related syndromes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  nPTLS and CFS have distinguishing CSF protein complements. Each condition has a number of CSF proteins that can be useful in providing candidates for future validation studies and insights on the respective mechanisms of pathogenesis. Distinguishing nPTLS and CFS permits more focused study of each condition, and can lead to novel diagnostics and therapeutic interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America. schutzer@umdnj.edu
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Schutzer
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Angel
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Athena A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Schepmoes
authors.forename: Therese R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Clauss
authors.forename: Joshua N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Adkins
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Camp
authors.forename: Bart K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bergquist
authors.forename: Patricia K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Coyle
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Fallon
authors.forename: Benjamin H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Natelson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002556:Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020543:Proteome / Q000032:analysis*; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002556:Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteins; D020543:Proteome